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For thought and meditation

unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. MATTHEW 18:3
These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must “put on the new man…” (Ephesians 4:24). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.
To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, “I won’t submit.” We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.

when the dust settles and the smoke clears all that matters is I hear the words " well done my good and faithfully servant "

Outstanding Bible study! God gives us our abilities and our talents.....the devil gives us our faults and tries to exploit them to his benefit...turn to God and grow with HIM!....AMEN

When guns are outlawed only criminals and the government will have them and at that time I will see very little difference in either!

"Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems man faces." President Ronald Reagan

"We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the law breaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is acoutable for his actions." Presdent Ronald Reagan

This is to take nothing away from either post above, but people seem to have some problem understanding this statement. YMMV, but the statement is geared towards believing with 100% of our being, as a child believes. You watch as a child turns to their father and hears him say something, there is no hesitation on the child's part to believe the father, and the matter is settled in their minds that "that is how it is".
When we hear the Father speak, that is how we should believe, 100%, and nothing lacking.